THE KINDERGARTEN 
AND HEALTH 


By 

ARNOLD GESELL 

Professor of Child Hygiene 
Tale University 

AND 

JULIA WADE ABBOT 

Specialist in Kindergarten Education 
Bureau of Education 



Health Education No. 14 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

Washington, D. C. 

1923 


GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIOE i 1923 





















V t • • 

















THE KINDERGARTEN 
AND HEALTH 


By 

ARNOLD GESELL 

Professor of Child Hygiene 
Tale University 

AND 

JULIA WADE ABBOT 

Specialist in Kindergarten Education 
Bureau of Education 


Health Education No. 14 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UT>. BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

* 

Washington, D. C. 

1923 



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COPY FOR PROFIT.—PUB. RES. 57 , APPROVED MAY 11, 1922 


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1 PO CUMEN TS P»V<S»QN 





<0 



CONTENTS 


Page 


Part I.—The Kindergarten as a Health Agency (by Arnold 
Gesell): 

The strategic position of the kindergarten. 5 

Consultation and health centers. 6 

Medical importance of the preschool age. 8 

Mental hygiene and the kindergarten. 9 

Part II.—Health Education in the Kindergarten (by Julia 
Wade Abbot) : 

The right environment. 12 

Essential health habits. 15 

Establishment of habits. 17 

Learning through real situations: 

The lunch period. 18 

Use of the toilet. 20 

Posture. 21 

Mental health. 22 

Learning througli doing. 24 

Play projects. 26 

Gardening and care of pets. 27 

Dramatization and excursions. 28 

Conversation periods. 29 

Creating attitudes: 

Pictures. 30 

Songs. j . 30 

Stories and rhymes. 31 

Cooperation with the home. 32 


3 




























The Kindergarten and Health 


Part I. — The Kindergarten as a Health 



By Arnold Gesell, 
Professor of Child Hygiene, Yale University. 


T HAT the kindergarten has important responsibil¬ 
ities in maintaining and improving the health of 
young children is now admitted by almost every¬ 
one. These responsibilities can be met in different 
ways. The kindergarten teacher can definitely deter¬ 
mine to make healthy development the supreme aim 
of her educational work. The public authorities and 
boards that control the budget and organization of the 
kindergarten can gradually bring about administrative 
changes which will enable the kindergarten to function 
more effectively as a health promoting agency. Mean¬ 
while a vigorous interest in child hygiene on the part 
of kindergarten teachers will help to hasten these 
administrative improvements. 


There 
should 
he no 


The Strategic Position of the Kindergarten. 


isolation 
for the 


T HE kindergarten should abandon any semblance kinder - 
of isolation. If a gap separates the kindergarten garten 
from the primary school and if a wall separates 
it from the infant welfare organizations, the gap should 
be closed and the wall leveled. The kindergarten 


5 






Working 

relations 

with 

other 

agencies 


should come into working relations with all public 
and quasi-public agencies which are serving the physi¬ 
cal and mental welfare of young children—with medi¬ 
cal and dental clinics, with school physicians and nurses, 
with visiting teachers, social and child welfare workers, 
with health centers, baby welfare conferences, etc.; 
and it should revitalize its contacts with the mothers, 
fathers, and homes of its children. 

The kindergarten is so situated in the scheme of 
things that it must serve an intermediate office, align¬ 
ing itself with infant welfare and child hygiene activi¬ 
ties on the one hand and with the health service of the 
public schools on the other. It is because the kinder¬ 
garten lies in the borderland between the primary 
school and the infant welfare station that it has such 
an important r61e to play as a health promoting 
agency. 


Consultation and Health Centers 


L ET us remind ourselves of what an infant welfare 
station is. It is a modern social device, a 
simple contrivance, which enables physician, 
nurse, and mother to take consultation together con¬ 
cerning the developmental welfare of a tiny baby. 
The physical equipment of the infant welfare center 
may be nothing more than scales, a table, a few chairs, 
and accessories, but it is none the less a social institu¬ 
tion of great significance. Out of it is growing a system 
of consecutive health supervision which is embracing 
both sick and well babies, which is including their 
whole physical welfare in its scope and extending to 
them the benefit of periodic examinations throughout 


Working 

relations 

with 

other 

agencies 



Health supervision 
is now possible 
for the infant and 
preschool child 


6 







the entire preschool period of development. Among 
the minimum standards for child welfare which were 
drawn up by the Children’s Bureau Conference of 1919 
were the following provisions: 

(a) Complete birth registration. 

(b) Sufficient number of children’s health centers to give health 
instruction under medical supervision for all infants and children 
not under the care of a private physician, and to give instruction to 
mothers in breast feeding and in care and feeding of children at least 
once a month throughout the first year and at regular intervals 
throughout the preschool age; this center to include a nutrition and 
a dental clinic. 

(c) Children’s health center to provide or to cooperate with a 
sufficient number of public health nurses to make home visits to all 
children of preschool age needing care—one public health nurse for 
an average population of 2,000. 


Minimum 
standards 
of child 
welfare 


These minimum standards providing complete health 
supervision of preschool children are brought nearer to 
realization with every year. Can the kindergarten 
live apart from all this infant welfare and child hygiene 
activity ? How can it ? Even the tiny year-old baby 
who with amazement in his eyes is laid into the weigh¬ 
ing pan at the welfare station is a prekindergarten 
child. In three years he may be entitled to a seat in 
the kindergarten circle. Little wonder that some 
kindergarten teachers make a special effort to have the 
infant welfare stations, the parent consultations and 
preschool clinics, and nutrition work conducted in then- 
own kindergarten rooms. Thus these teachers become 
early acquainted with their later charges and gain a 
clearer insight into the public health significance of the 
modern kindergarten. 

Such vital and direct contact between the kinder¬ 
garten and baby welfare work will also have a reciprocal 
effect upon nurses, social workers, and physicians; will 
help to impress upon them the actual and potential 
value of the kindergarten as a health agency in the 









How the 
kinder¬ 
garten 
can 
help 


domain of preschool hygiene. Considering the strate¬ 
gic location of the kindergarten, it seems destined to 
become a kind of developmental depot for the con¬ 
ditioning and the adjustment of the prospective school 
beginner. Surely physicians and child welfare workers 
will continue to look toward the kindergarten for in¬ 
creasing assistance in reducing illness and even mor¬ 
tality among children, in correcting their physical 
defects, in treating developmental handicaps, and in 
promoting their mental health. 


Medical Importance of the Preschool Age 


When 

the 

child 

grows 

most 

rapidly 

and 

funda¬ 

mentally 


When 

physical 

defects 

originate 


T HE preschool period is one of great physical 
development. The child grows from a vege¬ 
tative bundle of about 7 pounds at birth to 
nearly a half hundredweight at the age of 6, when he 
cuts his school-entrance molar. Never again will he 
grow so fast or so fundamentally. The kindergarten 
is concerned with at least the whole latter half of this 
growth period. His growth has behind it the impulse 
of inheritance, but it will be achieved completely only 
if the proper conditions of health, diet, air, sunshine, 
and play are forthcoming. Indeed, one-third of all 
the deaths of the Nation occur in the preschool period. 

Moreover, most of the physical defects of the school 
age originated in the preschool period. The New York 
City Bureau of Child Hygiene made a physical exami¬ 
nation of 1,000 school children of kindergarten age 
(ages 4 to 6) and compared their findings with the 
results of similar examinations made of the school 
population. The table subjoined which gives the com- 



8 







parative percentages clearly indicates the medical im¬ 
portance of the preschool age. 

Preschool School 

Physical defects. 

age 

(percent). 

children 
(per cent). 

Hypertrophied tonsils. 


15.3 

Defective nasal breathing. 


11.6 

Malnutrition (3 and 4). 


17.5 

Defective teeth. 


61.8 

Pulmonary disease. 


.19 

Organic cardiac defect. 


1.3 

Nervous disease. 


.5 

Orthopedic defects. 


.9 


From the standpoint of public health, the preschool 
area, therefore, looms up as the field for basic preven¬ 
tive work. Medical supervision of school children will 
always be indispensable, but the forces of preventive 
hygiene must be concentrated, shifted downward, and 
deliberately' focused upon the prekindergarten and kin¬ 
dergarten child. It is for this reason that the kinder¬ 
garten must become completely identified with the 
preventive public health program, not only through 
health teaching, but through actual health-promoting 
arrangements and medically directed health-serving 
activities. In other words, the kindergarten ought to 
become a supplementary or integral factor of the whole 
preschool system of child hygiene. 


Mental Hygiene and the Kindergarten 


The time 
for basic 
preventive 
work 



T HE law which established nursery schools in Eng¬ 
land specified that these schools were for “children 
over 2 and under 5 years of age whose attendance 
at such a school is necessary or desirable for their 
healthy physical and mental development.” This law 



9 


52242°—23-2 















A time 
to promote 
mental 
welfare 


Health 

education 

means 

education 

in 

healthy 

living 


officially recognizes the existence of problems of mental 
hygiene among children of nursery and kindergarten 
age. The opportunity and the obligation of promot¬ 
ing the mental welfare of kindergarten children grow 
out of the fact that psychologically the preschool 
period is of such fundamental significance. In a certain 
sense the amount of mental growth which takes place 
in the first sexennium of life far exceeds anything which 
the child achieves in any subsequent period. 

The character of this mental growth is by no means 
purely or preeminently intellectual. Almost from the 
beginning it is social, emotional, moral, and it denotes 
the organization of a personality. The infant is not 
only acquiring conceptions and motor coordinations; 
he is acquiring attitudes toward things and persons, 
prejudices, habitual preferences, and inhibitions. He 
is incorporating modes of behavior which do not of 
course constitute a nature personally, but which will 
persist at the core of that personality. On every level 
of behavior, the physiological, the sensory-motor and 
the psychical, he is acquiring both healthful and un¬ 
healthful habits of activity. Although he may not 
learn to read in the preschool years, he is mastering 
the alphabet of life. 

It is because the alphabet of life is so much more im¬ 
portant than the alphabet of the primer that the health 
education of the kindergarten is of such great conse¬ 
quence. We ordinarily reserve the term personal hy¬ 
giene for adults and young persons who are old enough 
to read books on how to live; but personal l^giene, 
properly conceived, begins in the nursery and kinder¬ 
garten. In their own immature but very real manner, 
even tiny children, for better or for worse, are acquiring 
modes of wholesome and mi wholesome activity; are 
assimilating healthy and unhealthy attitudes toward 
life; are forming habits of eating, resting, playing, and 



The child 
is 

acquiring 
attitudes 
as well 
as infor¬ 
mation 


10 


social adjustment which are profoundly influencing the When the 
organization of their personalities. The best health te'acher 
education results in personal hygiene, not, however, of radiates 
a sophisticated or introspective land, but rather in a healtfl 
spontaneous satisfaction with life and in the banish¬ 
ment of feelings of inferiority even in the face of 
handicap. 

For these reasons, health education broadly inter¬ 
preted has to reckon in all sorts of ways, not only with 
bodily sanitation, but with those intimate personality 
aspects of healthy living, which yield only to the in¬ 
fluences of psychic contagion and the subtleties of the 
teacher’s art. 

The chapter which follows indicates concretely the 
attractive and fruitful opportunities which the kinder¬ 
garten teacher enjoys in the field of health education. 




Part II.—Health Education in the Kinder¬ 
garten. 

By Julia Wade Abbot, 

Specialist in Kindergarten Education, Bureau of Education. 

The Right Environment. 


Unconscious 
response 
to the 
right kind 
of en¬ 
vironment 


The 

teacher 


I N its first stages, health education should be largely 
a matter of unconscious response to the right 
kind of environment. As little children's stand¬ 
ards are very personal ones, “ teacher 7 ’ is a very im¬ 
portant part of this environment. The familiar 
words, “My mother says,” are soon superseded by 
“My teacher says.” Not only are the words of wisdom 
that come from her lips regarded as oracles, but her 
pretty dresses attract much more attention from the 
kindergarten child than the pictures on the walls of 
the kindergarten room. Often he unconsciously imi¬ 
tates her mannerisms. The very climate of his school 
life is created by her smiles and frowns. It is most 
important for the teacher of the younger children to 
embody the ideals she is trying to teach. She must 
be a healthy individual, buoyant in temperament and 
with a keen sense of humor. But there is another 
reason why the kindergarten teacher should keep in 
perfect health, and that is because of the exhausting 
nature of her work. Children of 4 and 5 are not only 
exuberant, but they are also very unstable. Only 
that steadiness of nerves that comes from perfect 
health can meet with serenity or merriment the chaotic 



12 





happenings of a kindergarten society. The kinder¬ 
garten teacher must not only be a healthy being but 
she must be enthusiastic about health, and so intelli¬ 
gent about ways of providing for right living in the 
school room, that in health, the children “live and 
move and have their being.” 

While the kindergarten teacher can control the 
social environment of her schoolroom, there are often 
conditions in the physical environment that are beyond 
her control. Kindergarten rooms vary from the 
“extra” room in the basement that in some localities 
is considered good enough for the babies, to the beauti¬ 
ful rooms built especially for the kindergarten children 
in our modern school buildings. The ideal kinder¬ 
garten room should have a southern exposure. It 
should have large windows, low enough for the children 
to see the world outside. The kindergarten room 
should be provided with a separate ventilating system, 
so that the room may be kept at a lower temperature 
than rooms where children have less physical activity. 
The floor should be scrubbed at least twice a week and 
brushed with damp sawdust before every session. 
The floor should not be oiled. There should be a 
dressing room adjoining the kindergarten containing 
small toilet seats screened in, and wash basins with 
hot and cold running water. Liquid soap and indivi¬ 
dual towels should be provided. A drinking fountain 
should be accessible for the use of the kindergarten 
children. There should be individual compartments 
in the cloakroom for the wraps. The room should 
have a window. 

The educational material should be sufficiently large 
so that the child will in the main use the larger muscles. 
All fine material, such as paper weaving and small peg 
boards, should be eliminated. Individual compart¬ 
ments should be supplied in which the children may 


The 

physical 

environment 


Educational 

material 



13 



Ideally 
all kinder¬ 
garten 
rooms 
should he 
open-air 
rooms 


Plenty of 
physical 
activity 
in which 
every 
child 
should 
take part 


keep their material. These compartments should be 
easily accessible to the smallest child so that he may 
develop habits of order in the care of his material. 
Play apparatus, slides, bars, ropes, swings, seesaws, 
etc., should be accessible so that children may engage 
spontaneously in exercises which will balance the more 
intensive work with the kindergarten materials. 

Even with unfavorable conditions of housing and 
equipment the kindergarten teacher, who has high 
standards in regard to the health of the children in 
her care, may do much to overcome the handicaps of 
the situation. Play apparatus may be secured through 
the cooperation of the mothers’ club. Where there is 
no provision for washing faces and hands, enameled 
bowls and pitchers may be used as in some of the 
nursery schools. If the kindergarten room is not airy 
and full of sunlight, there is more necessity for having 
the children play out of doors. No matter what the 
condition of kindergarten housing, kindergarten chil¬ 
dren should spend as much time as possible out of 
doors. Ideally, all kindergarten rooms should be 
open-air rooms. Advantage should be taken of mild 
climates, and in parts of the country where the weather 
is severe during the winter season, the pleasant days 
of spring and fall should be spent out of doors as much 
as possible. In every kindergarten session of three 
hours, one-half hour spent in the open air should be 
the minimum. When the weather is inclement, there 
should be active play periods with the windows open. 
The kindergarten teacher should so order her program 
that it provides for plenty of physical activity for every 
child. It requires a firmly implanted ideal of health 
to take 40 or more little children out of doors every 
morning when there are wraps to put on. In the game 
period it is much easier to have the large group of 
children sitting or standing still while the few perform 



One-half 
hour of 
outdoor 
play in 
a 3-hour 
session 
the minimum 


14 


in an orderly way. The health standards of the teacher 
touch every part of her school program. A lunch 
period followed by a brief rest period is an important 
part of the kindergarten program. The valuable habits 
that can be taught at this period will be discussed later. 


Essential Health Habits 


I N addition to providing the right kind of school 
regime for safeguarding the health of the kinder¬ 
garten children there are certain health habits 
which the children should be taught in the kinder¬ 
garten. What are the essential health habits in 
which children should be continually trained ? The 
following list is given in the bulletin—Health for 
School Children, a Report of the Advisory Committee 
on Health Education of the National Child Health 
Council: 1 

1. Eating three warm, wholesome meals regularly each day, with 
no candy or other sweets between meals. Sitting down to eat, 
chewing food thoroughly, eating slowly. 

2. Every day eating some fruit and two or three vegetables, 
including one green or leafy vegetable. At every meal eating some 
whole grain bread or cereals. 

3. Drinking at least one pint of milk each day, but no tea or 
coffee. 

4. Drinking at least three and preferably four glasses of water 
every day. 

5. For children of 4 and 5 sleeping at least 12 hours each night, 
well covered, with the bedroom windows open wide and a midday 
rest. 

6. Devoting all leisure hours to play out of doors. When weather 
does not permit going out of* * doors, playing indoors with windows 
open. (Children should have at least two hours of play in the 
fresh air daily.) 

1 Bureau of Education, School Health Studies, No. 1,1923. 

15 

One of 

• eleven / 

essential 

health 

habits 


Lurjich 
and vest 
period 
impor¬ 
tant 









Early 

health 

habits 

should 

be 

formed 
at home — 


7. A natural bowel movement every day (in the morning 
preferably). 

8. Brushing the teeth at least once a day (twice preferably), 
especially before going to bed. 

9. A full tub or sponge bath at least once a week. (Warm water 
should be used whenever possible and plenty of soap should always 
be used.) 

10. Washing the hands before eating and after going to the toilet. 

11. Always carrying a handkerchief and being careful to protect 
other people by holding it over the mouth and nose, and bowing the 
head when coughing and sneezing. 


—But the 
real 
teacher 
thinks 
of the 
well¬ 
being 
of her 
pupils 
and 
assists 


The establishment of all these habits is primarily 
the responsibility of the home. Every child who 
comes to school should be well grounded in these 
habits. If the kindergarten could only establish pre¬ 
requisites as does the college, how much simpler would 
be the work of the elementary school. But if mothers 
are ignorant or indifferent the children must not 
suffer. While the academic type of teacher may 
believe that the establishment of health habits is the 
mother’s business, the real teacher is solicitous for the 
well-being of all the children entrusted to her care. 
One type of teacher is interested in getting results in 
terms of materials. She measures the success of her 
teaching in terms of finished dances and artistic paper 
cutting. The right kind of teacher measures her 
results in terms of the growth and development of her 
children. “Clean hands and a pure heart” count 
more than academic achievements. The school must 
supplement the home, and cooperate with the home 
in the establishment of health habits. Repetition is a 
rule of habit formation. The school can help the home 
in the establishment of those habits which can be 
repeated with satisfaction by the children from day 
to day in their school life. It is the responsibility of 
the home to establish those habits which relate to 
activities carried on in the home environment. 




Establishment of Habits 


T HERE are three ways in which a teacher can 
emphasize health work in the kindergarten. 
First, by establishing habits through the chil¬ 
dren’s natural response to a healthful environment. 
Second, by giving information in relation to actual life 
situations. Third, by creating an attitude toward 
health essentials through appeal to the imagination. 

The most successful kind of teaching is that which 
enlists the child’s enthusiastic cooperation in his own 
education. There are many little personal habits 
which the kindergarten teacher will have to correct in 
the individual child. The happy atmosphere of her 
schoolroom, the right relationship between the child 
and teacher will make the child want to do the thing 
that is right. If there is not a right spirit, the sugges¬ 
tions given by the teacher will deteriorate into “nag¬ 
ging.” In some respects the teacher has a tremendous 
advantage over the mother. There is the glamour of 
the unusual about school. “Teacher” is the presiding 
genius, and one has her in small doses of three hours a 
day. And she does not have a dozen other things to 
do which interfere with answering your questions and 
working and playing with you. And “teacher” has 
the help of all the other little boys and girls who enthu¬ 
siastically respond with blame and approval keyed to 
“teacher’s” standards. Then, too, behavior in school 
is not such a self-conscious matter. In the home all 
the blame and praise, so lavishly given by grown-ups, 
are often centered on one poor little individual. In 
school one swings along in the group, and learning “ the 
laws of the jungle” is a pleasant and profitable thing. 

In some kindergartens the morning inspection has 
been used very successfully. The teacher must make 
this exercise positive, and not negative. There should 



Three 
ways to 
emphasize 
health 
work 







The 

lunch 

period 

a happy 

social 

time 


be no unpleasant contrast made between children who 
are well cared for at home and who have all the facili¬ 
ties for keeping clean, and the little children who come 
from neglected homes. If the child comes to school 
dirty, he should be helped to wash his face and hands 
before the morning inspection, so that it is a period of 
rejoicing over cleanliness, instead of a searching out of 
the dirty ones. The personal dignity of little children 
is often offended by the thoughtlessness of the overzeal- 
ous adult. Some habits should be dealt with personally, 
some habits may be developed as conscious standards 
for the group. The first type is illustrated by such a 
habit as keeping the hands away from the mouth and 
nose; the second type—turning one’s head away and 
covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing, bring¬ 
ing a handkerchief to school and using it. Habits 
should be taught in relation to real situations, not as 
in one kindergarten, where the teacher began the morn¬ 
ing by having all the children blow their noses in the 
proper way instead of beginning with singing. In our 
zeal for health we must not lose our sense of proportion. 
Freedom and beauty create attitudes which are factors 
in mental health. It would be a sad day if the luncheon 
period ceased to be a delightful, social occasion, and 
became a health clinic. Just because it is such a happy 
period, many valuable habits may be formed in an 
incidental way. The art of teaching is the art of 
emphasis. 

Learning Through Real Situations 


The Lunch Period 

I N many kindergartens a luncheon of crackers and 
milk is served in the middle of the session. The 
benefits of the lunch period are many, both in 
direct results and in by-products. Following is a list 
of habits that may be developed: 



18 





1. Learning to drink milk. Health 

2. Washing hands before eating. habits 

3. Using individual cups. through 

4. Not exchanging food or picking it up from the 
floor. 


5. Eating slowly and not washing down food. 

6. Not handling other people’s food. 

7. Using a napkin. 

Many children have learned to drink milk for the 
first time in the kindergarten. The sociability of the 
lunch hour, the pleasant spectacle of the neat little 
cups of milk and the square graham crackers and the 
white napkin have made their appeal, and no persua¬ 
sion on the part of the teacher has been necessary. 
At the luncheon period it is very natural to talk about 
things to eat. Foods that make us grow may very 
naturally be emphasized. Artificial devices have often 
been introduced into the school to teach health, when 
actual situations in the life of the school might have 
been used much more effectively. For example, the 
names of the kindergarten children have been placed 
on a chart, and gold stars have been given to the 
children who are the proper weight for their height. 
The poor little underweight children are the “ non¬ 
stars.” We must be careful not to hold children respon¬ 
sible for conditions over which they have no control. 
We can hardly hold babies responsible for the neglect 
of early years, for poverty and ignorance. And while 
a reward in the form of a star by one’s name may seem 
small to us, we must remember the pathetic eagerness 
of children to receive crowns of glory even in the form 
of gilt paper stars. 

Learning directly from experience is also more effec¬ 
tive than giving children of kindergarten age facts. 
Instruction about germs has no place in the early 
grades. There are plenty of situations in the life of 



19 


We must be 
careful not to 
hold children 
responsible for 
conditions over 
which they have 
no control 







the kindergarten for learning hygienic practice. Blow¬ 
ing Joe's horn upon which he has just performed, 
using Susie's bubble-pipe—these are taboo, according 
to the laws of teacher. When Tony spits on the floor, 
much more effective than a lecture on germs is the 
ceremonial of Tony's getting water and soap and 
scrubbing the floor under the disapproving eyes of 
“teacher" and his “pals." 

Neither artificial rewards nor formal instruction 
have any place in the early grades. A negative empha¬ 
sis should also be avoided. Bobbie's mother tells this 
story. He surprised her one morning by asking for 
some coffee in his glass of milk. “Just one or two little 
drops, mother," he begged. She replied in amazement, 
“Why, Bobbie, you never have had coffee nor wanted 
it before. What are you thinking of?" “Well, 
mother," he said, “I want to tell my teacher that 
I've had coffee for breakfast, and see the face she 
makes up when I tell her." 


Use of the Toilet 

There are two other habits for which the kinder¬ 
garten teacher should be responsible which have not 
been mentioned. One of these habits relates to the 
use of the toilet. Some of the kindergarten children 
are near the period of babyhood and need help and 
supervision when they use the toilet. They should be 
taught to wash their hands after using it. They 
should be taught habits of decency and privacy. 
When there is a toilet provided for the children adjoin¬ 
ing the kindergarten room, it is not a difficult matter 
for the teacher to give supervision. In many of the 
older buildings, however, the kindergarten children 
have to use the toilets in the basement which are used 
by all the children in the school. Conditions vary in 
different schools as to the position of the toilets and 



The best safeguard 
against bad posture 
is the frequent 
change of position 
and the constant use 
of the larger muscles 


20 



their supervision by the janitor. The practice of hav¬ 
ing kindergarten children go to the toilets varies with 
different teachers. In some schools all the kinder¬ 
garten children are taken to the toilets by the teachers 
at a definite time. In other schools the kindergarten 
children go singly at any time during the morning, as 
the children do in the other grades. While such a 
practice develops habits of self-reliance and independ¬ 
ence, and does not waste the time of children who do 
not need to go, every teacher should make sure that 
her children are establishing and maintaining habits of 
decency. 

Posture . 

The second habit for which the kindergarten teacher 
is responsible is that of posture. In the best kinder¬ 
gartens children are free to engage in many varieties of 
activity and there is not the danger of their forming 
bad habits that there is when children have to sit still 
for long periods at a time. The best safeguard against 
bad posture for the younger children in the elementary 
grades is the frequent change of position and the con¬ 
stant use of the larger muscles for which a right pro¬ 
gram and equipment makes provision. However, the 
kindergarten child should be taught to choose a chair 
which is the proper size for his height, so that his feet 
will rest squarely on the floor when he sits against the 
back of the chair. There should be at least two heights 
of chairs in the kindergartens where children 4 and 5 
years old are enrolled. Chairs should be 10 and 12 
inches high. There should also be two heights of 
tables, so that the child’s knees may fit under the table 
comfortably, allowing him to assume naturally the 
right posture as he works. As children usually insist 
on having u the biggest” chair available, as every kin¬ 
dergarten teacher can testify, it will take some persua- 


T oilets 
near 
the kin¬ 
dergarten 
rather 
than in 
basement 



21 


There should be 

at least two 

heights of chairs 

in the kindergarten — 

10 and 12 inches 

Teach 

children 

to choose 

the right 

chair 




sion and reasoning to have children form the habit of 
choosing the right chair. They may be made to realize 
that there is a relationship between this habit and their 
proper growth. Reasoning with a 5-year-old is not 
always a simple process. One kindergarten teacher 
had to constantly remind a little boy about sitting cor¬ 
rectly. One day when he looked bored at her admo¬ 
nitions she said, “When you are a big, straight man, 
Horace, and meet me on the street, you will thank me 
for making you sit right when you were a little boy.” 
Horace replied nonchalantly, “Oh, you’ll be dead when 
I’m grown up.” Teachers will have to watch indi¬ 
vidual children to prevent their sitting so that their 
eyes are too near their work, and prevent children from 
working in a poor light, or directly facing the light. 


Mental Health 


The 
right 
kind 
of en¬ 
viron¬ 
ment 
favors 
mental 
health 


E MPHASIS upon the responsibility pf the kinder¬ 
garten teacher for the formation of all these 
health habits in her children seems to suggest 
that, like Martha of old, she will be“ careful and troubled 
about many things.” Again it must be repeated that 
at the kindergarten stage health education should be 
largely a matter of unconscious response to the right 
kind of environment. This is particularly true in the 
matter of habits that lead to mental health. If teacher 
becomes a Martha, what hope is there for her class ? 
“ To lose the joy is to lose all.” A happy, well-balanced 
teacher who understands child nature establishes a 
social order in which blossoms “ the fruit of the spirit.” 
The childlike virtues of frankness, generosity and joy, 
courage, and good nature flourish in the right atmos¬ 
phere. The natural emotions of children have often 



22 






been so oruelly thwarted before they reach the kinder¬ 
garten that it is necessary for the school to restore the 
child’s mental health. Through this social order they 
learn self-expression and self-control, leadership and 
conformity. 

The following description comes from a kindergarten 
teacher in the foreign section of one of our large cities: 

A large, sunny room—small chairs and tables sociably grouped 
together; small cupboards filled with play material; individual 
lockers where each child learns the joy and responsibilities of posses¬ 
sion, his own crayons, paints, and many childish treasures he is 
forever bringing to school—where he is possibly given his first 
responsibility of being held accountable for the place and order of c jfy 
his belongings; pictures, the dear Mother Goose and many other kinder- 

beautifully colored ones, hanging at the level of his twinkling, garten 

inquiring eyes; a victrola, with many delightful records; a bowl of 
goldfish; a jar of evergreens or red berries in the comer; a black¬ 
board for small artists; a delightful doll comer, where small mothers 
cook, wash, and carry on the regular family life—they love to dress 
and wash and cuddle baby, for dollies are few in their own homes; 
a small son of the Slav race, who is ‘‘father,” spends his “day at 
home” playing lustily on the small piano. When asked why he 
did not “go to his job,” he answered with his hands up, “No work, 
no job.” Molly is making clay beads for the baby’s birthday. 

Peter is painting clay dishes for the doll’s new table he has just 
finished. A half dozen boys are busy with hammer and saw, brace 
and bit. The teacher, after showing the child how to handle his 
tools and materials, leaves him alone, but is ever watchful. 

A shriek from the doll corner, a son of Little Italy has a handful 
of blonde curls, and there are teeth marks on a pink arm. Paint¬ 
brushes are put down, blocks deserted, hammers dropped, a rush, 
and the good citizens held their second extemporaneous meeting 
that morning. The severe sentence of “lunch by himself” was 
passed, as Tony had had many trials. The teacher was always there 
as “the board of appeal” to talk it over with everyone. Underfed, 
and for the most part unwisely fed, Tony, with a chalky face and 
stature of a 3-year old, had been sent to school on black coffee and 
macaroni. This is true of about half of the children. With both 
parents working, or an overworked mother with so many little ones 
to care for, Mikey comes to school day after day with no lunch, or 
sometimes a stale, greasy doughnut in a soiled newspaper. The 



23 


Americani¬ 
zation 
through 
the kin¬ 
dergarten 



city’s unemployed show in the ragged shoes, thin coate, and torn 
clothing. 

The room is brought to perfect order by the “good citizens” with 
dust cloth, mop, and broom. They leave it shining. The flag 
salute follows, and each child tells what he has done, or may do, at 
home or school, to be an American citizen. This is followed by a 
brisk march, a run or social dance, then songs around the piano. 
A certain piano selection plays “luncheon”; a scurry to tables; a 
good citizen gets out the paper towels; ‘ ‘ girls first’ ’ wash their hands; 
paper doilies and napkins are passed. Here the first principles of 
order, good habits, table manners, politeness, and many invaluable 
courtesies are socially learned. A lunch of graham crackers and 
milk is provided for these little children in the effort to establish 
certain desirable attitudes toward milk and wholesome food. At 
this time there is an informal discussion of social happenings, of 
home life, hygiene, and cleanliness. After lunch the tables are 
cleared and each child rests. He may choose his own place—the 
main object is relaxation. 

Then seated on the floor come 15 minutes of rhythm work. The 
idea is to teach them to listen to good music and interpret what 
they hear. Then comes dramatic work. With these foreign chil¬ 
dren, it is based on social situations and the beloved Mother Goose. 
After a talk of work accomplished, or some other definite subject, 
the teacher wishes to bring up the story hour—the loveliest part of 
the morning comes. The Three Bears, Peter Rabbit, the traditional 
fairy tales our little American children knew as soon as they could 
talk, have never been heard before by these little children of parents 
who speak and read little or no English. 

Heavy shoes are put on, the room straightened, a personal good-by 
and hand wave to the last pair of black eyes. “Good-by teacher! 
Oo’ee, Jack Frost, he looks out!" 


Learning Through Doing 


I N addition to the formation of habits more or less 
unconsciously, children of kindergarten age may 
be given some information if it is related to the 
work and play of the regular kindergarten activities. 
Even children of 4 and 5 need facts as well as fancies 



Many children 
learn to 
drink milk in 
the kindergarten 


24 





and children do not want their science in sugar-coated 
pills. To give children information about germs which 
teacher calls “little sick seeds/’ to tell of “the bad 
decay fairies” which the toothbrush must vanish, is 
not only ineffective but harmful. 

Someone has said that murder is committed every 
day in our elementary schools, the murder of curiosity. 
Curiosity is killed by the use of silly devices, or by 
mechanical instruction that has no relation to the life 
and interests of children. When a child’s curiosity is 
expressed in questions, these questions should be 
answered simply, directly, and truthfully. “What do 
butterflies eat?” “Is clay cooked?” ^.“Are rubbers 
made out of elephant’s skin?” “Why do we put 
little stones on the bottom of the canary’s cage?” 
“When children get big, grown-ups get littler and 
littler, don’t they?” Answering such questions is real 
science teaching. 

Enough information should be given to satisfy the 
child’s curiosity and to encourage him to “carry on” 
in the valuable process of doing his own thinking. 
There is a tendency, however, in answering children’s 
questions, to give them too much information. Instead 
of “feeding a child’s curiosity,” formal instruction is 
substituted and facts become so much “dead informa¬ 
tion.” The main thing is to keep the habit of ques¬ 
tioning alive. This is accomplished by giving children 
as much information as they can assimilate on different 
levels of experience. For example, the answer to the 
question as to why gravel is put on the floor of the 
canary’s cage would deal with facts of real interest to 
children of kindergarten age. The statement that birds 
and chickens have no teeth is curious and therefore 
interesting. Teeth are an absorbing topic at this age 
when they are loosening and falling out. Associating 
teeth with the necessary mastication of food has 

25 

Habits are formed 
by doing things 
repeatedly 


A nswer 

truth- 

fully- 

But be 
sure to 
answer 
on the 
child’s 
level 
of ex¬ 
perience 


How much 
informa¬ 
tion? 


The 
child 
is only 
confused 
by more 
knowl¬ 
edge 
than he 
can as¬ 
similate 




gjk already been called to the children’s attention at the 
lunch period. The simple fact could then be given 
wn the children that birds and chickens pick up little 
stones and gravel to help grind up their food because 
they have no teeth to do this for them. The fact that 
this grinding process takes place in the stomach or 
any explanation of the process of digestion would 
be entirely out of place at this stage in the child’s 
development. True teaching does not consist in telling 
children all one knows but in telling children all they 
need to know at successive stages of growth. 



Play Projects 

In the modern kindergarten the child reproduces his 
or her own life with play materials. Caring for the 
doll, building with the large blocks, keeping house in 
the play-screen house, all are a repetition of his or her 
own experience and so provide play situations where 
health may be emphasized. The dolls must have 
clean clothes and pockets with handkerchiefs. They 
must have different kinds of clothes for different 
seasons and different amounts of bed clothing. The 
dolls must have their naps. The doll house must be 
cleaned and dusted and kept orderly. 

The beds must be put near the windows and the beds 
must be aired. One kindergarten teacher tells this 
anecdote to show how naturally the children can teach 
one another through their play. There was a large 
family of dolls to be accommodated in a small doll 
house. There were two beds in one room and three 
people to be provided for. Lucy was planning to have 
the dolls “double up,” but Shirley said, “No, we will 
make another bed because when people sleep together 
they snore the breath in each other’s faces. ” This is 
a good illustration of how vivid the play with dolls 
may be and how truths go home without formal 
instruction. 



Learning 
health 
through 
the care 
of dolls 


26 





When the children construct grocery stores and bake 
shops, sorting the merchandise and keeping it covered, 
bottling the milk and putting in the caps, making bags 
and boxes, wrapping the bread and butter, providing 
clean aprons and caps for the baker—all these things 
will be discussed and played out by the children. In 
one kindergarten the children were making a village. 
There were enough blocks to make the houses, school, 
church, and fire house, hut there were only enough 
blocks to make one store. One child wanted it to he 
a candy store, but he was overruled by the group who 
declared that people could get along without candy 
hut they must have food; and a grocery store was 
decided upon. 



Gardening and Care of Pets 

But real as this play is to little children, the care of 
dolls does not take the place of care for growing things. 
Every kindergarten should have a garden. Every 
kindergarten should have some kind of pets. There is 
such a direct relationship here between pure water and 
sunshine, cleanliness, the right kind of food, and 
growth. Young children are keenly interested in 
growth and change. In one kindergarten as they were 
watching their seeds growing and sprouting, they would 
say over and over “first the seed, then the roots, then 
the stem, then some leaves, then the flower, then seeds 
again. ” WTien the moth came out of the cocoon, the 
children began to talk of things that changed into 
something else. “Caterpillars change into moths ,” 
was followed by “ puppies change into dogs, and kittens 
change into cats, and baby hippopotamusses change 
into big hippopotamusses. ” The climax came when 
this grand series was worked out. 11 Babies change 
into boys and girls and they turn into fathers and 
mothers, and then the}^re grandfathers and grand- 

27 

Learning health 
through the care 
of pets 




mothers and then they die” (said quite cheerfully). 
“Getting bigger” is of absorbing interest. Children 
measure up against one another to see who is taller. 
Gaining in weight fills them with pride. The record 
of the child’s weight and height gives the kindergarten 
teacher an excellent opportunity to help the children 
make the connection between growth and right habits 
of eating and sleeping. 

Gardening not only gives the children practical 
experience in providing right conditions for the growth 
of plants, but the children may become familiar with 
the vegetables which are best to plant because best 
to eat. This subject may be emphasized again at 
Thanksgiving time when visits are made to farm and 
grocery store and when the children are preparing for 
their Thanksgiving party. 


How the 
play-song 
helps 


Dramatization and Excursions 

Not only can health habits be strengthened through 
gardening and the care of pets, but the child’s instinct 
to dramatize experience may be utilized. One kinder¬ 
garten teacher describes how the children dramatize 
getting ready to come to school. They sing to the tune 
of The Mulberry Bush: 

This is the way we wash o^jjfands} 80 earl > r in the morning; 

This is the way we brush ourj^^lso early in the morning. 


Another verse which is used is: 



We wash our face, 

We wash our hands, 

In water clean and cool. 

We brush our teeth, 

We comb our hair, 

And quickly run to school. 

When the play is worked out completely, preparing 
and eating breakfast is dramatized. This leads very 


Learning 
health 
through 
the care 
of flowers 


28 


naturally to a discussion of the right food for breakfast. 

This play ends with the familiar song: 

Happy Monday morning, 

Whether rain or shine, 

Little children start from home, 

And come to school on time. 

The excursions which the kindergarten children take 
with their teacher are valuable in health education. 

The vigorous exercise in the open air, the interest 
awakened in nature, and the companionship of the 
other little boys and girls all are health giving. Making 
the acquaintance of the policeman, the fireman, the 
farmer, and the motorman appeals to children’s admi- Ideals 
ration of strength and dexterity and helps them to form of 
ideals of health. health 

Conversation Periods 

All these kindergarten experiences give the children 
an endless number of things to talk about. With chil¬ 
dren of 4 or 5 doing and talking and thinking are closely 
associated. In the informal conversation periods the 
kindergarten teacher will find one of the best opportu¬ 
nities for health teaching. One topic of conversation 
that always has interest to the children is their babies, 
which they tell about with pride. This conversation 
naturally leads to emphasis upon the care that is given 
the baby and the way he grows and flourishes. A 
visit from a mother and baby is always a part of the 
experience of a year in kindergarten and makes a 
strong appeal to the children. Food, sleep, clothing, 
and cleanliness are topics naturally associated with this 
experience. 

Creating Attitudes 


W E have seen how habits may be formed through 
the right environment, and how knowledge 
may be acquired in real situations. One 
other means of health education is the creating of atti- 



\ 


29 









Imagi¬ 

nation 


Clean 

Peter 


t 

tudes through an appeal to the imagination. Pictures 
and songs, stories and rhymes have an important place 
in the kindergarten, and make their appeal to all 
children. 

Pictures 

Pictures of family groups are used in all kindergartens 
and give opportunity for talking about food and fresh 
air and proper clothing as they relate to the happiness 
and well-being of every member of the family. One 
kindergarten teacher had her children make an alphabet 
hook based on the child health alphabet. The children 
made original illustrations in drawing or paper cutting. 

A is for Apples and also for Air; 

Children need both and we have them to spare. 

In this same kindergarten the children contributed 
pictures to two food charts that were hung on the wall. 
As the children brought pictures from home cut out of 
magazines, the food that was good for them was pasted 
on one chart and the food that they should not eat on 
the other. 

A picture book that makes a strong appeal is Clean 
Peter and the Children of Grubby Lea. 

Songs 

Some simple little songs which may be associated 
with the pictures may be found in the book entitled 
Child Land in Song and Rhythm, by Jones and Barbour. 

Coffee and tea are not good for me; 

Cocoa and milk are just right for me. 

The cow says “Moo, 

Here’s milk for you.” 

Early I will go to bed, 

So I won’t be a sleepy head 



30 

Strengthening 
health habifs 
through 
gardening 



Lullabies make an appeal to the children because of 
their rhythmic character. They may be sung in the 
kindergarten at the children’s rest period, and the chil¬ 
dren sing them to the doll-babies. The need for sleep 
and rest may be associated with these songs. 

Stories and Rhymes 

In the introduction of health teaching into the 
school, stories and rhymes have been used very exten¬ 
sively and with much success. In using this material 
in the kindergarten only those stories and rhymes 
should be used which are pure literature. Such verses 
as Wee Willie Winkie and Stevenson’s Friendly Cow 
suggest ideals of health, but health is a by-product. 
Literary values should be preserved for the younger 
children as jealously as for the college student. Fa¬ 
miliar rhymes like Mother Goose have been distorted 
to teach health truths. Mother Goose should be given 
to children only in its original form. It is quite a differ¬ 
ent thing to have children make up their own funny 
little health rhymes. In some schools delightful 
original verses have been inspired by the child’s health 
alphabet. 

The use of pure literature teaches health in the very 
best way by establishing right mental habits. In the 
story group there is repose, joy in contemplation, and 
that feeling of the solidarity of the group that grown 
people experience in the theater and the church. 

A book of stories has appeared recently that contains 
stories of things which touch a little child’s daily expe¬ 
rience, and which is also literature. I refer to the 
Here and Now Stories of Lucy Sprague Mitchell. A 
story that can be used effectively with the younger 
children in relation to the health habit of taking a bath 
is called ^How the Singing Water Got to the Tub.” 



Use 
good 
litera¬ 
ture 
and 
treat 
it with 
respect 



31 


Health rn 
gardens 


It is full of charming rhymes and traces the water from 
its source to its entry into the little child’s tub. 

I bubble up so cool 
Into the pebbly pool. 

Over the edge I spill 
And gallop down the hill! 

The What shall I do, oh, what shall I do? 

singing Here’s a big dam and I can’t get through. 

water Behind the dam I fill and fill, 

But I want to go running and running down ! 

If the pipe at the bottom will let me through, 

I’ll run through the pipe! That’s what I’ll do ! 

Way under the street, street, street, 

I hear the feet, feet, feet; 

I feel their beat, beat, beat, 

Above on the street, street, street. 

“My! but I need a bath to-night,” said the dirty little boy as he 
heard the water splashing in the tub. The water was still the singing 
water that had sung all the way from the far-away hills. It had 
sung a bubbling song when it gurgled up as a spring; it had sung a 
tinkling song as it rippled down hill as a brook; it had crooned a 
flowing song when it bore the talking boats; it had muttered and 
throbbed and sung to itself as it ran through the big, big pipe. Now 
as it splashed into the dirty little boy’s tub it laughed and sang this 
last song: 

I run from the hill—down, down, down, 

Under the streets of the town, town, town, 

Then in the pipe, up, up, up, 

I tumble right into your tub, tub, tub. 

And the dirty little boy laughed and jumped into the singing 
water! 


Joint 

respon¬ 

sibility 


Cooperation with the Home 


T HE mental and physical health of children is the 
joint responsibility of the mother and teacher. 
The same standards should be maintained in 
the school and in the home, and certain habits should 



Health 

Sugges¬ 

tions 


32 


t 










be well established when the child enters the kinder¬ 
garten. Lately there has been an increasing realization 
on the part of thoughtful people that an effort should 
be made to have children come to school in the right 
physical condition and with health habits already estab¬ 
lished. In a town in New Jersey the parent-teachers’ 
association prepared a little folder entitled “Is Your 
Child Ready?” This leaflet was given to the mothers 
of children who would shortly enter the kindergarten. 
On one page were printed the rules for entrance to kin¬ 
dergarten in regard to age, registration, and vaccina¬ 
tion. Another page was headed “Before Entering 
School a Child Should Know”; and then followed a list 
of such practical suggestions as knowing his full name, 
his father’s name and address, knowing how to put on 
and remove wraps and clothing, and how to give a 
spoken answer to a simple question. Another page was 
entitled “Health Suggestions,” and contained the fol¬ 
lowing: 


Children 
in good 
condition 
to enter 
school 



Bathe twice a week; daily if possible. Ten hours of sleep at night 
with windows open. Regular bedtime, not later than 9 o’clock. 
Wash hands and face before meals and at bedtime. Brush teeth at 
least twice a day, on rising and going to bed. Natural bowel move¬ 
ment every day. The child should attend to this himself, especially 
before school. Proper use of the handkerchief. Provide a clean one 
each day, and have a pocket large enough to hold it, or pin it on. 
Height and weight tables are given with this booklet. Is your child 
the proper weight for his height? If not, the school or the board of 
health will gladly advise suitable corrective measures. 


In regard to mental health this statement appeared 
in the leaflet: “The best thing that any child can be 
taught is obedience. This can best be done in his own 
home while he is very young.” 

In thus calling the parents’ attention to health stand¬ 
ards before the child entered the kindergarten the 
mother and father were made responsible for teaching 
the child certain things for which the home should be 

33 

Tall enough , 
heavy enough , 
and in good 
physical 
condition 



responsible. The transition from home to school was 
also made much easier for the child. 

In New York a notable experiment was made in 
June, 1921, in preparing children for entrance to school 
in one of the most congested districts in the city. This 
experiment is described in a pamphlet entitled “Exami¬ 
nation of Preschool Age Children/’ and is issued by the 
health service of the New York County Chapter, Ameri¬ 
can Red Cross. 

Eight schools were selected for the experiment, and 
the work was done in the month of June with the chil¬ 
dren who were to enter school for the first time in Sep¬ 
tember. A card was sent home to the parents of these 
children and contained this statement in relation to the 
information given: “Have your child examined at once! 
Do not delay! Start him right. The best time to take 
care of a child’s health is before he enters school.” 
Over 1,000 children were examined, the majority 5 and 
6 years old. Sixty-six per cent were found to have 
physical defects, and the mental age of these children 
ranged from 3 to more than 7 years. About 25 per cent 
were below the standard of ability usually supposed 
necessary for attendance at kindergarten. The mental 
tests were given by the New York State Association of 
Consulting Psychologists. The nurses of the Bureau of 
Child Hygiene did follow-up work in the homes, and the 
American Red Cross provided dental service. 

This experiment through the cooperation of agencies 
outside the school in giving physical and mental tests 
to children of preschool age suggests that the kinder¬ 
garten teacher may secure the help of outside agencies 
when the school system does not carry on this kind of 
work. In one city the kindergarten teacher not only 
takes her own children to the clinics but spends her 
afternoon hours in taking the children of the upper 
grades. Every kindergarten teacher should know the 



A New York 
experiment 






health agencies in the community, and be able to give 
the mothers of her children information about their 
operation. 

Mothers’ meetings and home visiting are a practical 
means of securing cooperation between home and school 
in the establishment of health habits. The following 
account from a teacher in one of our large cities is an 
illustration of the kind of cooperation that can be 
carried on between teacher and mother: 

Some day I hope to convince the parents of the children in my 
neighborhood that we could use my kindergarten with the room so 
well adapted for it, for an out-door kindergarten. It is hard to con¬ 
vince a sturdy race of people who have thrived on boiled potatoes, 
coffee, and sausage for food, closed windows with the fire out for sleep, 
that there is a higher form of development with wholesome food for 
brain, as well as brawn, and fresh air for blood as well as physical 
strength. 

We have an opportunity to convince the children of this when we 
weigh and measure them, as we do on the same day at the same hour 
each month. With the children who are 10 per cent under weight, 
we have the opportunity to discuss types of breakfast, lunch, and 
dinner for children. We also discuss the amount and time to eat 
candy, time to go to bed, the use of the toothbrush and baths. We 
do not discuss the horrors of coffee, tea, and even whiskey (for we 
live in a neighborhood of home brew), but we make it “stylish,” in 
fact ‘‘the thing to do,” to report each morning that ‘‘ I had a bath this 
morning, ” “ I drank cocoa for breakfast, ” “ I had milk for breakfast, ’ ’ 
or “I had oats for breakfast,” or “I went to bed at 7 o’clock last 
night,” or “I have a new toothbrush,” etc. The natural thing, 
then, when we gather in a group to take up the morning topic is to 
take account of how many drank milk, how many drank cocoa, etc. 
The effect of public opinion soon results in the coffee line dwindling 
to one or two. 

If the mother and the teacher have the same basic knowledge of 
the period of growth the child is in and the needs of the periods, 
greater strides can be gained. The kindergarten teacher is the one 
to give the mother this information. Our kindergarten mothers’ 
club meets once a month. The mothers requested that we use some 
time in discussing childhood problems. At our meetings three 
mothers give 3-minute talks or papers on their actual experiences 
with their own children as related to the topic. I prepare the main 


Mothers* 
meetings 
and home 
visiting 



35 







Cooperation 
between 
mother and 
teacher 


A better 
diet 



talk. Since health is the most important issue of this period, we 
have taken health as our subject for the year. The first topic was 
“Food for the School Child.” We include the periods 1 to 4, 4 to 8. 
After a splendid discussion of the types of foods necessary for different 
ages came a desire on the part of the mothers to know more about the 
actual structure of the child’s body at different periods, the changes 
that take place, and the accompanying need. The second topic, 
then, was a discussion of the character of the periods of growth from 
1 to 4, 4 to 8. One mother responded, telling in detail how her baby 
responded to certain stimuli—the actual physical development the 
child had gone through and the care, with thorough exercise, clothing 
and food necessary. 

I took the kindergarten child and told what we tried to do and 
we ended one discussion by formulating a few definite health rules 
for the young child. Thus we have been able to gain the cooperation 
of the mothers for milk and cocoa instead of coffee; cereals, vege¬ 
tables, and fruit instead of sausage and boiled potatoes; windows 
open at night and plenty of out-door exercise during the day. The 
mothers have become so interested that they have asked for a fa¬ 
thers’ night when we will invite the fathers to meet with us, because 
the mothers say their hardest task is to convince the father that 
things are not as they were ‘‘ when he was a boy. ’ ’ At each mothers’ 
meeting we play games, which has a twofold object, so that through 
actually playing the games the mothers have a better understanding 
of the physical benefit, and also it helps them know games to play 
with their children or direct their children to play when they are 
busy. At one meeting we are planning to have the mothers work 
out a project to help them see the physical and educational benefit. 
We learn only through doing. During the exercises when we have 
the fathers present, besides the talk we are going to have community 
singing and games. The community recreation leaders cooperate 
with us. The games planned for that night are those which mothers 
and fathers can use in their own homes and back yards. 

The opportunity that we have to visit the homes of our children 
gives us the chance to consider the individual child. The mother 
is ever eager to discuss her child, and a frank understanding is a 
splendid thing. We are pleasant, friendly, but professional in our 
attitude during our visits. We go armed with the weight and meas¬ 
urement of child and the normal weight; even if the child is of normal 
weight or above, that, too, is an opening wedge, for nothing is finer 
than to be able to tell a mother how fine it is that she has accom¬ 
plished so much. The teacher can learn as much from the successful 
mother as from the unsuccessful mother. We are too apt to go in a 


Cooperation 
between 
mother and 
teacher 


A better 
diet 




factor 
in the 
child's 


success 


Health 
is the 
most 


important 


36 


negative frame of mind, but with them all I usually try in some way 
before the end of the visit to find out what the child’s health habits 
are at home and then incorporate in the conversation briefly the 
ideal habits. 

In a normal school kindergarten a very practical sug¬ 
gestion of the right kind of food to give children was 
given to the mother in the form of a Health Calendar 
which the child made for her Christmas present. The 
following description is given: 

We cut green and red cardboard, 8 by 10 inches. For variety 
some had green covers and red sheets and others red covers and 
green sheets. On the outside was pasted a picture of a rosy-cheeked, 
healthy-looking child. On the inside of the cover was a picture of 
a child eating a wholesome breakfast. On the page opposite this 
there were a few introductory notes for mother, then a list of things 
from which to choose for a child’s breakfast. 

On the next page was a picture of something wholesome for dinner, 
followed by a list of foods for a 5-year-old child’s dinner. The next 
page contained a picture appropriate for supper, followed by the 
list of foods good for a child’s supper. 

We had the help of a dietitian in making out the food lists, so as 
to make sure they were scientific and all right. 

While these calendars were used as Christmas gifts, they could be 
used with profit at any time. 

In such practical ways the kindergarten teacher can 
bring standards of health to the mothers of kinder¬ 
garten children. 

The emphasis upon the kindergarten as a health 
agency gives new dignity to kindergarten teaching. 
The kindergarten teacher receives the little “beginner” 
and starts him on his school career. In a very real 
sense this school chapter may be a new beginning for 
each little child. Whether this chapter in his life be 
labeled “Success” or “Failure” depends largely upon 
how a child is started in school, and health is the most 
important factor in his success. 



A health 
calendar 


37 


The teacher 
can learn 
from the 
successful 
mother as 
well as from 
the unsuc¬ 
cessful 
mother 














9 


38 


\ 


o 




HEALTH EDUCATION PUBLICATIONS 

may be procured from SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


Remittance must accompany order 


Stamps are not accepted 


Health Education Series 

CLASSROOM WEIGHT RECORD 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 1 cent each 

No. 1. WANTED I TEACHERS TO ENLIST FOR HEALTH SERVICE 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 1 cent each 

No. 2. DIET FOR THE SCHOOL CHILD 

Single copy 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 
No. 3. SUMMER HEALTH AND PLAY SCHOOL 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 
No. 4. TEACHING HEALTH 

Single copy, 3 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 

No. 5. CHILD HEALTH PROGRAM FOR PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCI¬ 
ATIONS AND WOMEN’S CLUBS 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 3 cents each 

No. 6. FURTHER STEPS IN TEACHING HEALTH 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 3 cents each 
No. 7. THE LUNCH HOUR AT SCHOOL 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 4 cents each 
No, 8. HEALTH TRAINING FOR TEACHERS 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 
No. 9. YOUR OPPORTUNITY IN THE SCHOOLS 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 
No. 10. SUGGESTIONS FOR A PROGRAM FOR HEALTH TEACHING 
IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

Single copy, 10 cents. Additional copies, 6 cents each 

No. 11. MILK AND OUR SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 

No. 12. SLEEP 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 

No. 13. DRAMATICS FOR HEALTH TEACHING 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 2 cents each 

No. 14. THE KINDERGARTEN AND HEALTH 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 3 cents each 

School Health Studies 

No. 1. HEALTH FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Single copy, 10 cents. Additional copies, 7 cents each 

No. 2. THE CHILD HEALTH SCHOOL in the UNIVERSITY of CHICAGO 
Single copy, 10 cents. Additional copies, 7 cents each 

No. 3. WHO’S WHO IN HEALTHLAND; A STUDY OF HEALTH WORK 
IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NEWTON. MASS. 

Single copy, 10 cents. Additional copies, 5 cents each 

No. 4. GROWING HEALTHY CHILDREN 

Single copy, 5 cents. Additional copies, 3 cents each 











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library of congress 



0 020 973 339 0 































































































